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Jesse Eisenberg
Jesse Eisenberg (born October 5, 1983) is an American actor, author, and playwright. He made his television debut with the short-lived comedy-drama series Get Real (1999–2000). Following his first leading role in the comedy-drama film Roger Dodger (2002), he appeared in the drama film The Emperor's Club (2002), the psychological thriller film The Village (2004), the comedy-drama film The Squid and the Whale (2005), and the drama film The Education of Charlie Banks (2007). He is also known for playing Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in David Fincher's The Social Network (2010). In 2009, Eisenberg had his breakthrough with starring roles in the comedy-drama film Adventureland and the horror comedy Zombieland. His portrayal of Zuckerberg in The Social Network earned him nominations for various awards, including the BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Academy Award for Best Actor. He also starred in Holy Rollers (2010), which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Eisenberg later voiced the main character, Blu, a male Spix's macaw, in the animated films Rio (2011), Rio 2 (2014) and Rio 3 (2017). His other films include the action-comedy film 30 Minutes or Less (2011), the action-comedy film American Ultra (2015), the Woody Allen films To Rome with Love (2012) and Café Society (2016), and the heist film Now You See Me (2013) and its sequel Now You See Me 2 (2016). In 2016, Eisenberg portrayed Lex Luthor in the superhero film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and briefly reprised the role in 2017's Justice League. Eisenberg has contributed pieces to The New Yorker and McSweeney's websites. He has written and starred in three plays for the New York stage: Asuncion, The Revisionist, and The Spoils. Eisenberg's first book, Bream Gives Me Hiccups: and Other Stories, a short story collection, was released in September 2015. Career 1999–2008: Early work Eisenberg made his television debut in the series Get Real, from 1999 to 2000. In 2001, he appeared in a UK Dr Pepper commercial as "Butt Naked Boy." After appearing in the made-for-television film Lightning: Fire from the Sky at 18, he starred in the independent film Roger Dodger (for which he won an award at the San Diego Film Festival for Most Promising New Actor), and in The Emperor's Club, both of which were released in 2002 to generally positive reviews. Eisenberg was sick for the majority of the nightclub scene and can be seen sweating in different shots. In 2005, Eisenberg appeared in Cursed, a horror film directed by Wes Craven, and The Squid and the Whale, a well-reviewed independent drama starring Laura Linney and Jeff Daniels. In 2007, he starred opposite Richard Gere and Terrence Howard in The Hunting Party, a comic thriller in which he plays an American journalist reporting from Bosnia. In 2009, Eisenberg played the lead role in Adventureland, a comedy directed by Greg Mottola and filmed in Kennywood Park, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Filming wrapped in October 2007, and the film had its premier at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009. In November 2007, Eisenberg was cast in the indie comic-drama Holy Rollers alongside his sister, Hallie Eisenberg, who played his fictional sister in the film. He played a young Hasidic Jew who becomes involved in the ecstasy smuggling trade, using his religion as a disguise to deal without suspicion. Filming took place in New York in 2008. During the late 2000s, he also had roles in the independent films Solitary Man, playing college student Daniel, and Camp Hell, a horror film directed by George Van Buskirk. 2009–2011: Breakthrough and critical success Jesse Eisenberg's breakthrough starring role was in Zombieland. The horror-comedy, which saw him with Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin on a roadtrip through a post-zombie apocalypse America, was a sleeper hit. In 2010, he portrayed Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg in the film The Social Network, for which he earned the Best Actor Award from the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, and nominations for Best Actor at the BAFTA Awards, Golden Globes, and Academy Awards. According to the film's director, David Fincher, both he and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin knew Eisenberg was the one for the role as soon as they watched his audition tape, despite Eisenberg's own anxieties about his audition. On November 22, 2010, Eisenberg was honored, along with Whoopi Goldberg, Joycelyn Engle, and Harvey Krueger, at the Children at Heart Celebrity Dinner Gala and Fantasy Auction, to benefit the children of the Chernobyl disaster. Steven Spielberg is Chair of the event each year. On January 29, 2011, Eisenberg hosted Saturday Night Live on NBC, with musical guest Nicki Minaj. During his opening monologue, Zuckerberg himself appeared. Eisenberg said that meeting the man he portrayed on-screen was "an overwhelming experience," and was happy that "we were both able to have fun at the situation." Zuckerberg, who has been a vocal disser on the artistic licenses taken by The Social Network, would later say that he thought Eisenberg "was a little afraid to meet me after his portrayal, but I tried to be nice." In 2011, he starred in the box-office animated hit Rio, as the main character Blu, a metropolitan, domesticated male Spix's macaw who learns how to fly. He starred alongside Anne Hathaway, his former co-star (and onscreen sibling) from Get Real, as well as George Lopez, Tracy Morgan, will.i.am, and Jamie Foxx. He featured in one song, "Real in Rio", in the film's soundtrack, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. He also starred alongside Aziz Ansari, Danny McBride, and Nick Swardson in 30 Minutes or Less, a film noir heist-comedy about a pizza delivery man, played by Eisenberg, who is forced to rob a bank, which was released in August 2011. In October 2011, Eisenberg made his playwriting debut in Rattlestick Playwrights Theater's Off-Broadway production of Asuncion, staged at Cherry Lane Theatre. Eisenberg also acted in the play, which was directed by Kip Fagan. The play highlights two overeducated, liberal-minded friends, played by Eisenberg and Justin Bartha, whose assumptions are challenged by their new Filipina roommate, played by Camille Mana. 2012–present In 2012, he starred alongside Melissa Leo in Why Stop Now, a drama about a drug addict mother (Leo) and her piano prodigy son (Eisenberg), and in the magical realist romantic comedy To Rome with Love, directed by Woody Allen. That same year, he filed a $3 million lawsuit against the producers of the 2010 direct-to-DVD film Camp Hell, claiming exploitation. According to the lawsuit, Eisenberg agreed to appear in the film as a favor to his friends. He was on set for one day of filming in 2007, earned about $3,000, and logged only a few minutes of total screentime. Because of his minimal involvement in the production, he was surprised to see that his face was prominently featured on the cover of the DVD, implying that he starred in the film. His lawsuit asserts various California law causes of action, including claims for unfair business practices and publicity rights. In 2013, Eisenberg reunited with Woody Harrelson for the magician heist film thriller Now You See Me, playing a world-famous close-up magician and street performer recruited into a secret group of elite magicians to pull off bank heists with magic tricks, redistributing the money from a wealthy businessman (Michael Caine) to victims of his corrupt capitalist schemes. That year he announced his plan to continue writing, for both stage and screen, as well as continuing to act. He debuted his second play, The Revisionist, and starred in Richard Ayoade's drama, The Double (2013), which was shot in 2012. In the following years, Eisenberg reprised his role as Blu in Rio 2 (2014), and starred alongside Kristen Stewart in the action comedy American Ultra (2015), playing a rogue sleeper agent being chased by the C.I.A.. In 2015, Eisenberg portrayed Rolling Stone journalist David Lipsky in the biographical drama film The End of the Tour, appearing opposite Jason Segel, who portrayed the late author David Foster Wallace. Eisenberg's third play, The Spoils, premiered off-Broadway in The New Group Perishing Square Signature Center Alice Griffin Box Theatre. The play featuring Eisenberg as Ben, also starring Kunal Nayyar, Michael Zegen, Erin Darke, and Annapurna Sriram, was the winner of The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation Theatre Visions Fund Award. On September 8, 2015, Eisenberg released his first book, Bream Gives Me Hiccups, a collection of short humor pieces. Eisenberg serves on the Board of Advisors for Playing On Air, a public radio show/podcast that works with contemporary playwrights to produce plays for "today's digital audience." He has written one short play for Playing On Air, called A Little Part of All of Us (2015), which he starred in with Justin Bartha. He has voiced for two other plays, The Final Interrogation of Ceaucescu's Dog (2015), written by Warren Leight, and The Blizzard (2016),'' written by David Ives and directed by John Rando. Eisenberg played the supervillain Lex Luthor in ''Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which was released in March 2016, to generally negative reviews. Eisenberg's performance in particular was harshly criticized by comic book fans and film reviewers,later earning him the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor. He would defend himself by saying he attempted to "make these people real and relatable and interesting and engaging, not just, you know, a surface bad person." Eisenberg then reunited with Woody Allen and Kristen Stewart in Café Society, The film held its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 11, 2016. Eisenberg next reprised his role as street magician J. Daniel "Danny" Atlas in Now You See Me 2, which was released on June 10, 2016, previewed June 9, to mixed reviews. The film was shot primarily in London and Macau. It has grossed over $267 million worldwide, and Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer announced that they had "already begun early planning for Now You See Me 3. On June 2, 2016, Eisenberg's play The Spoils began a run at London's Trafalgar Studios in the West End, with Scott Elliott returning to direct. Eisenberg again played the lead role, along with Nayyar and Sriram, while Zegen and Darke's characters were replaced by Alfie Allen and Katie Brayben respectively. In May 2016, Eisenberg teased that he would reprise his role of Lex Luthor in the Justice League film (2017). An official press kit, released by Warner Bros. on December 22, 2016, confirmed the return. He appeared as Luthor in the post-credits scene alongside Joe Manganiello, who played Slade Wilson/Deathstroke. Eisenberg is a producer on Jeremy Workman's 2018 documentary The World Before Your Feet, which follows a 37-year-old man named Matt Green who has walked over 9,000 miles on the streets of New York City. In an interview with Variety, Eisenberg talked about the film, stating, "it’s this fantastic tour of New York City. But more than that, its central character has this unusual relationship to his environment. He’s simultaneously a tourist and a philosopher." The documentary premiered to much acclaim at the 2018 South by Southwest Film Festival where it was acquired by distributor Greenwich Entertainment. It was released theatrically in November 2018 and currently holds a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. In 2019, Eisenberg starred in Zombieland: Double Tap, directed by Ruben Fleischer. Writers of the first Zombieland, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, penned the script with David Callaham. Upcoming projects Eisenberg is creating, writing, and directing a comedy adaptation of Bream Gives Me Hiccups with Jax Media, starring Parker Posey, Victor Rasuk, and Elliott Smith. A pilot was filmed in June. Eisenberg will play the famous mime Marcel Marceau in Resistance, directed and written by Jonathan Jakubowicz. It will focus on Marceau's part in the French resistance during World War II. He will also join Pierce Brosnan and Vanessa Redgrave in a film based on the book The Wreck of Medusa about the painting The Raft of the Medusa as artist Théodore Géricault. Alongside Alexander Skarsgard, Eisenberg will star as a high-frequency trader in Kim Nguyen's tech drama The Hummingbird Project. Eisenberg joined Riley Stearns's dark comedy The Art of Self-Defense alongside Imogen Poots and Alessandro Nivola. Principal photography began in Louisville, Kentucky, on September 11, 2017. He is set to write, direct, and star in Bad Robot's comedy The Market about a "recently widowed Harold Katzman who moves to Pittsburgh to live with his adult son, Stan (Eisenberg). Both men simultaneously lose their jobs due to the changing American economy and are thrust into an unforgiving job market." He will executive produce with J.J. Abrams and Ben Stephenson. Eisenberg's new play Happy Talk had its world premiere in 2019, with production by The New Group, marking his second collaboration with the company. The production is about "a suburban woman's efforts to take care of her family while starring in a community-theater production of South Pacific". Originally titled Yea, Sister, the show was directed by Scott Elliott. Filmography Film Television Theatre Audiobooks References Category:American actors Category:October births Category:1983 births Category:1980s births